IAN AYRE insists Brendan Rodgers was always at the forefront of Liverpool’s recruitment process, and says the Reds have appointed the right man to replace Kenny Dalglish.

Confirming the 39-year-old as the new man in charge at Anfield, Ayre revealed Rodgers had been the first name on Fenway Sports Group’s list, once Dalglish had been sacked last month.

“Brendan was always at the forefront of that thinking,” said Ayre. “That was evident in the fact that we asked Swansea about him very early on.

“For lots of reasons, when we made that initial approach we were told Brendan was not so keen, but he was never discounted from our thinking at any stage.

“We went through the rest of the process, analysed other candidates, as you would expect, but Brendan was the only person we made an offer to.

“He was the person we wanted and we’re very pleased with the outcome.”

Rodgers has signed a three-year deal to take charge of the Reds, and revealed he had sought assurances from the club’s owners over rumours a strong, Director of Football type figure would be appointed above him.

But Ayre said: “The structure we will put in place is a more continental type of structure, where you have a collaborative group of people in and around the football area.

“We don't envisage, at this point in time, having a director of football per se but there will be a group of people who will work collaboratively with Brendan on the football side of the club.”

He added: “There’s nothing in our structure where we would force players onto our manager. It will not be a ‘signing by committee style, more an ‘analysis by committee’.

“It's a very typical, continental style where you've got a collaborative structure of people who are qualified across a variety of people from all sides of the business working together.”